Social Security

Percentage

• 52% of the regulatory base, generally.

• 70% of the regulatory base, as long as the following requirements are met for the entire period in which the pension is collected:

1. The pensioner has dependent family members. Dependent family members are considered to exist when:
   
   
   • Children under the age of 26, or older with disabilities, or minors in foster care live with the pensioner. In this case, a disability is deemed to exist when a degree of disability greater than or equal to 33% is certified.
     
   • The annual earnings of the family unit, including those of the pensioner, divided by the number of family members, do not exceed 75% of the minimum professional wage in effect at the time, not including the proportional part of the two extra payments.
     
2. The widow's/widower's pension is the primary or sole source of income, with this requirement being met when the annual amount of the pension is greater than 50% of the pensioner's total earnings.
   
   
3. The pensioner's annual income from all sources does not exceed the amount resulting from adding to the limit that, in each tax year, is expected for the recognition of the minimum payments for contributory pensions, the annual amount that, in each tax year, corresponds to the minimum widowhood pension with family dependents.  As of 01/01/2012, the income limit is 17,011.54 |€ per year (6,993.14 + 10,018.40).
   
   The annual widowhood pension plus the pensioner´s annual income, cannot exceed the income limit stated in the previous paragraph. If they do, the amount of the widow's/widower's pension will be reduced to avoid exceeding the limit.
   
   The three requirements must be met simultaneously. The loss of any of them will lead to the application of 52%, effective from the 1st day of the month following that in which the requirement is no longer met.

• In cases of legal separation or divorce:
  
  When there is a single beneficiary with entitlement to a pension, it will be for the full amount.
  
  If after a divorce there are several beneficiaries with entitlement to the pension, it will be granted in proportion to the amount of time each of them lived with the originator, but guaranteeing, under all circumstances, that 40% will be granted to the surviving spouse or common law partner with entitlement to a widowhood pension.
  
  Maximum limit: as of 01/01/2010, the amount of the widowhood pension cannot be greater than the compensatory pension. If the amount is higher, it will reduced to the amount of the compensatory pension.
  
  For separated or divorced people who are not eligible for the compensatory pension, the pension will be granted in proportion to the amount of time spent living with the deceased originator, without prejudice to the limits (40%) that may arise in favour of the spouse or common law partner in the event of multiple beneficiaries.
  
• When the marriage is annulled, the pension will be granted in proportion to the amount of time spent living with the deceased, without prejudice to the limits (40%) that may arise in favour of the spouse or common law partner in the event of multiple beneficiaries.

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Regulating base

It is calculated differently, depending on the situation of the originator (active worker or pensioner) and the cause of death (common or occupational contingency).

Death of permanent disability or retirement pensioners:

The regulatory base is the same used to determine the retirement or permanent disability pension of the deceased, to which the corresponding percentage is applied, when appropriate. The result is increased with the amounts of the revaluations that have taken place for widowhood pensions from the date on which the original pension began.

If the deceased was on partial retirement status, the contribution bases corresponding to the period of part-time work are taken into account and increased up to 100% of the amount that the worker would have received in conditions of "full-time work" during that period.

Death of active workers:

• Death due to common contingencies:
  
  The regulatory base is the ratio resulting from dividing the sum of the interested party's contribution bases during an uninterrupted period of 24 months by 28. This period is chosen by the beneficiaries during the 15 years immediately prior to the month before the triggering event (death) of the pension.

• Death of worker with active contributor or assimilated contributor status due to a non work-related injury:
  
  If the worker had not completed an uninterrupted contribution period of 24 months in the 15 years prior to the month before the death, the regulatory base will be the most beneficial of the following two bases:

• The base indicated in the point above, or,
• The base resulting from dividing the sum of the minimum contribution bases in the 24 months immediately prior to the death by 28, based on the amount corresponding to the working schedule established in the deceased's last contract.

• Multi-employment:
  
  When contributions are certified in several schemes and eligibility for a pension is not granted in one of them, in multi-employment situations the certified contribution bases in the last scheme may be accumulated in those of the scheme in which pension eligibility exists, only to determine the regulating base, as long as the sum of the bases does not exceed the maximum contribution limit in effect at the time.

• In cases of exemption from Social Security contributions(*):
  
  

  For periods of work in which a worker has not made common contingency contributions, with regard to workers on permanent contracts who are aged 65 or older and who can prove 35 years or more of effective contributions, the following rules will be taken into account:

1. The bases through which the interested party had been making contributions are taken in accordance with the known average variation percentage in the Consumer Price Index (CPI) in the last specified year, plus two additional percentage points, except when the bases are greater than the result of increasing the average of the contribution bases from the previous calendar year.
   
2. If the contribution bases declared are greater than the average of those from the previous year, increased in accordance with rule 1, that amount is taken as the contribution base.
   
3. For the purposes of calculating the average described in rule 1, the contribution bases taken are those corresponding to the activity and company for which they are exempt from making contributions, and for a working schedule comparable to the one they are currently carrying out.
   
4. If there are no contribution bases in any of the months from the previous calendar year, the average of the existing contribution bases, divided by the number of months to which they correspond, shall be taken.
   
5. If there are no contribution bases for the activity subject to exemption from contributions, the contribution bases taken are those of the interested party for work done as an employee during the year prior to the beginning of said exemption, in accordance with a working schedule comparable to the one exempt from contributions.
   
6. If there are no contribution bases in the previous year, the contribution bases are taken for the first year in which they exist, calculating the average indicated in rule 1 and applying the rules indicated in the sections above. This average is increased by the average variation percentage in the previous calendar year or years up to the year of the payment exemption period.

• Death due to work-related injury or occupational disease: it is the ratio resulting from dividing the following totals by 12:

• Daily wage and days of service on the date of the injury or sick leave due to disease, multiplied by 365 days.
  
  For part-time and relief contracts, in which the worker does not provide services every day or when the working day is irregular or variable, the daily wage is the result of dividing the agreed weekly or monthly salary, based on the distribution of the working hours indicated in the contract for each of those periods, by 7 or 30.
  
  For permanent-intermittent contracts, the daily wage is the result of dividing the wages earned by the worker during the same period, by the number of calendar days of the working season up to the date of the triggering event.

• Extra payments, benefits or shareholdings, by the total amount in the year prior to the injury or sick leave.

• The ratio resulting from dividing the bonuses,supplementary compensation and overtime hours earned in the year prior to the injury, by the number of actual work days in that period. The result is multiplied by 273, unless the number of effective days in the activity in question is lower, in which case it will be multiplied by the relevant number.
  
  For part-time, relief and permanent-intermittent contracts, the sum of the salary supplements received by the interested party during the year prior to the triggering event is divided by the number of effective hours worked during that period. The result is then multiplied by the figure obtained by applying the coefficient for proportionality that exists between the standard working day of the activity in question and the working day indicated in the contract to the number 1826.

For workers included in the Special System for Domestic Employees, the RB will be equivalent to the contribution base for domestic employees on the date of the benefit´s triggering event.

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Payment

• The pension is paid monthly to recipients with two extra payments per year, which are paid with the June and November payments, except in cases of work-related injury and occupational disease, when they are prorated within the 12 ordinary monthly payments.
  
  
• The pension, including the minimum pension amount, is revalued at the beginning of each year, in accordance with the Consumer Price Index for that year.
  
  
• Minimum monthly amounts based on the age and dependent family members of the beneficiary:
  
  
  • Holder with dependent family members.
  • Holder aged 65 years old or with a disability |>= 65%.
  • Recipient between the ages of 60 and 64.
  • Recipient under the age of 60.
  
  
• The pension is subject to taxation under the terms set forth in the regulations for the Personal Income Tax (IRPF) and is subject, when appropriate, to the general system of tax withholdings, with the following exception: it shall be exempt if due to acts of terrorism.

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